The Laughing Swordsman

Ned's expression became solemn.

"What? Why do we have to run, Mildred?"

The maid whose name was Mildred was anxious. She had short light brown hair and blue eyes. As a maid would, she was wearing a frilly dress.

"Demons are sieging the village."

Ned frowned.

"Wasn't the Demon King..."

Mildred shook her head with a despondent look.

"I don't know what happened, but we must run."

Erin raised her hand, she was strangely collected.

"But wait! If we leave this village, we won't have food or a warm place to sleep! We will die if we leave, so we must protect the village!"

Alyx sighed.

"But what if the demons are really strong? Surely by fleeing we will at least have a chance."

Ned furrowed his brows.

"How many demons are there?"

Mildred frowned.

"...At least hundreds."

Alyx put a hand on her chest and gasped.

"How could we possibly take on that many at once? Our only chances lie in running away."

Erin pouted and raised her hands in the air.

"Don't you remember how much we've been practicing? It was to protect the village! We are strong now!"

Alyx frowned.

"Erin, what has gotten into you? You were never this reckless before!"

Erin flailed her arms around.

"It's not being reckless! I made the choice that had the highest chance of working out! We haven't lived a day in the wilderness, not to mention the fact it's winter. Even experts in wilderness survival wouldn't last long!"

Alyx's lip twitched. She fell silent.

Ned shook his head. With a sigh, he turned to Mildred.

"Does Ela know?"

Mildred shook her head.

"No... she is doing some business."

Ned pulled a shiny purple rock out of his pocket and crushed it. Mana automatically arranged into a diagram, casting a spell.

Mildred's eye twitched after Ned did that. However, she remained silent.

Ned sighed.

"...We have made significant progress in magic. Perhaps we can fend them off?"

Mildred took a deep breath.

"I will leave the choice to you."

Alyx furrowed her brows. She was displeased.

Ned noticed this and decided to come to a compromise.

"How about this? We attempt to defend the village..."

Alyx's eyelid twitched.

Ned quickly finished his sentence.

"But we run away if anything goes wrong."

Alyx heaved a sigh.

"We can't hesitate to run! If we do, there will be no time."

Ned nodded.

"Alright."

Erin smiled.

"Ok, we got this!"

Apollo, who was watching from afar, ran up.

"Yeah! We got this!"

Alyx's face twitched.

"Um... Apollo, stay near the castle with us, alright?"

Apollo tilted his head.

"Mm? How am I supposed to attack the demons then?"

The corner of Ned's lip twitched.

"...That is because we have a plan, Apollo!"

Apollo turned to Ned. He was interested?

"Woah! What is the plan?"

Ned coughed awkwardly.

"You see, we are spellcasters, so we can attack from afar. However, if an enemy gets close to us, we will be at a big disadvantage!"

Ned lifted up one finger.

"That is where you come in!"

Ned paused.

"...If we don't decide to run away... you must defend us! We are counting on you!"

Erin pouted after Ned said that, but didn't voice her concerns.

On the other hand, Apollo was really excited. He was jumping up and down.

"Ok, ok! I won't let you down!"

Mildred rubbed her forehead with her palm.

"We should go on the roof of the palace. From there, you shall have a vantage point to cast your spells."

Ned took a deep breath.

"Alright."

The group made their way up a few sets of stairs, reaching the roof.

The wind blew violently, pelting the group with snowflakes. They were quite high up, letting them see the entire village.

In the distance was a swarm of demons. They had already made it partway into the village, killing the people they came across.

It did not appear gruesome for the group because of how far away they were. However, it still made Erin upset.

The violent wind suddenly shifted. The gales increased in strength and revolved around Ned.

His clothes fluttered in the wind and his eyes shut.

Ned forcefully pulled in the surrounding mana and began conjuring multiple firebolt spells.

In just a few moments, a steady barrage of firebolts flew towards the demons. Although the firebolts were by no means slow, the demons were also quite far away.

As such, Ned didn't even bother to aim. He simply launched them in the middle of the swarm and hoped the chaos would let them hit.

Like a bombardment, small-scale explosions rained on the demon army. Nearby one-horned demons were killed instantly while the two-horned demons were injured.

As for the three-horned demons, they would regenerate the damage almost immediately.

Erin was also casting the firebolt spell, but she wasn't doing it at anywhere near Ned's speed.

She manipulated the mana gently, slowly shifting it into the diagram for the firebolt spell.

Once it was completed, a blazing fireball that was roughly five meters in diameter appeared in front of Erin.

The fireball hovered in front of her, naturally growing in size by the second.

Beads of sweat formed on Erin's forehead.

"This... is going to work right?"

Erin tried her best to aim, but her fireball completely blocked any vision she had of the demons.

"Is it here?... No, it was here!"

Erin bit her lip.

"Wait, but what if it was there?"

Alyx patted Erin's shoulder. The heat from the fireball was making Alyx sweat despite the cold weather. On top of that, the growing size was quite foreboding.

After all, if this fireball exploded here, it would be hard to believe that any of them could survive.

Yet, Alyx had a calm smile on her face. She looked at Erin with a gentle look in her eyes.

"Trust me. You can do it!"

A smile blossomed on Erin's face.

"Yeah!"

With that, Erin let her fireball loose.

And the sun descended.